AIB has agreed to a 4 per cent pay hike for workers next year, with all staff receiving a minimum €2,000 salary increase, as a three-year accord during the worst of the inflation crisis comes to an end.
The bank said that the accord with the Financial Services Union (FSU) has also seen the union withdraw a claim for restoration of the 35-hour working week, which was increased to 37 hours in the wake of the financial crisis.
In exchange for the withdrawal of this claim, staff will receive a one-off tax-free voucher to the value of €1,500 in early 2025 and an extra day of leave to be taken in calendar year 2025.
The agreement, which must still be voted through by AIB staff, will see the minimum salary for the bank’s employees in the Republic rise by €2,000 to €30,000.
Billy Barrett, senior industrial relations officer with the FSU, said its members in the bank will vote on the agreement over a two-week period closing on December 16th.
“The FSU is recommending the agreement as it meets the criteria we set at the start of negotiations for an inflation-busting pay award and a pay award that helps our members with cost-of-living pressures,” he said.
The bank’s existing three-year pay deal, under which staff received a 10 per cent increase in total, is due to come to an end in March. It was the longest-lasting such agreement struck between an Irish retail bank and trade union officials.
“We’re pleased to propose a pay agreement which concentrates on the lowest paid in the bank, resolves the last of the legacy productivity issues and further enhances our suite of employee supports to enable AIB and our people to build a more sustainable future for our 3.3 million customers,” said AIB’s chief people officer, David McCormack.
The deal puts the focus on FSU negotiations with Bank of Ireland and PTSB, which each have one-year agreements in place, having last year given pay increases of 4 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.
Shares in AIB have jumped 31 per cent so far this year, even though analysts have begun in recent times to lower their 2025 interest income – and earnings – forecasts for the sector as the European Central Bank (ECB) starts cutting official rates at a faster-than-expected pace. The ECB is widely expected to reduce rates next month for a fourth time since early June.
AIB posted net profits of €1.11 billion for the six months to the end of June, up from €854 million the same time last year, as it continued to benefit from a series of official interest rate hikes between July 2022 and September 2023.
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